The Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is the biggest winter festival in the world. Tourists flock in millions to marvel at awe-inspiring ice sculptures. Read everything about the world’s biggest ice and snow sculpture festival here.

The Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival

When?

The Harbin Ice festival is organized towards the end of December and goes on till February. The dates for festival in 2018-19 are from 21st December 2018 to 28th February 2019.

Where?

As the name suggests, the festival is held in Harbin. Harbin is the capital of the northernmost province of China, Heilongjiang.

Interesting things to know

Around 15 million tourists visit this festival every year.

It is spread over an area of about 600,000 sq. meters.

The tallest sculpture in the festival is as high as 46 meters.

It takes almost 10,000 workers to transform ice into works of art.

How is it different from other winter festivals?

It is greater than any other ice and snow sculpture festival in the world due to its magnificence, size, and scale of the exhibits and lighting. Many sculptors from all over the world participate in this festival and the size and splendor of the sculptors is nothing less than breathtaking. Even, the lighting effects on the exhibits are controlled by LEDs. Regular lighting is also used to highlight the color and design of the sculptures.

Venues

The Harbin Ice Festival is held in three venues:

Sun Island Scenic Area: It’s open only during the day and exhibits snow sculptures.

The Ice and Snow World: Visit this venue during night to enjoy the brightly lit huge ice sculptures of palaces, The Great Wall of China, and so on.

Zhaolin Park: This venue is mostly for kids. There are over 1,000 ice sculptures of magical creatures and ice lanterns. Kids can also indulge in various activities like ice sliding.